Question:
>Patrick, > Flying is the best exercise a bird can get. They are designed to >fly, and I think their health is compromised if they don’t get to do it. >Some people say that flapping alone is all it takes, but that seems like >the kind of exercise we would get kicking at the air instead of walking.
I am not sure this is always the truth. All of my birds do the "hold on to this perch and flap like crazy" and depending on how well anchored the perch is, you can see they are generating some lift! When the senegal does this while holding on to my hand, I can feel a tug on my hand. The bird may not be going anywhere, but it sure is doing more than kicking into air! (I think a better analogy would be these small lap pools that have currents, so the person swims against a current but effectively stays in the same place… or running in a threadmill or some such thing, yeah, like exercising at the gym instead of getting exercise through a daily regime of working on the fields 
Also, you can look at the bird after one of those flapping bouts, if it went on long enough, you’ll be able to see its breathing rate is up, and you may even be able to feel the bird’s heartbeat. Obviously, flapping in place is NOT the same as flying, but it does have its benefits. —
Response:
: I am not sure this is always the truth. All of my birds do the "hold on : to this perch and flap like crazy" and depending on how well anchored the : perch is, you can see they are generating some lift! When the senegal does : this while holding on to my hand, I can feel a tug on my hand. The bird : may not be going anywhere, but it sure is doing more than kicking into air! I agree with with Cathy. Our birds, especially our Severe Macaw seem (my view point) to get a lot of exercise from holding onto an anchored object (e.g. a perch) and flapping very hard. The fact that they are not getting anywhere sort of reminds me of myself, jogging on my treadmill, getting nowhere but exercising just the same. — Mike Holland |***** / *****| Internet: 2015 South Park Place |* / / /_/ *| HPDESK: Atlanta, Georgia 30339 |*** / ***| Mike Holland/HPATC/03 Phone: (404) 850-2449 |***** / *****| Telnet: 1-850-2449
Response:
Excerpts from netnews.rec.pets.birds: 4-Jan-95 What is Healthy Patrick > If he wants to come out he’ll run around in his cage a WHOLE lot and he’ll > jump towards me whenever I’m in reach. If I put him on the floor on the other > side of the room, he’l run very fast towards me. Other than that, he doesn’t > want to exercize. > He has a trapeze and a couple of ladders in a gym, but he just climbs the > ladders to the toperch area and sits there untill I come near him. > Again, how much exercize should a ‘tiel get ? And is flying real good > exercize – which means I should stop clipping his wings.
Patrick, I’m not sure how much excersize is "enough", but I can tell you what a typical evening with my ‘tiel, Triscuit is like. She’s 6 months old now. Anyway, much like your bird, she doesn’t like to fly much. She’ll fly when she’s startled, but that’s about it. Much like your bird, she will also run across the floor to come to my wife or myself. However, on the point of general excersize, I think that Triscuit is more active. When we’re there to keep an eye on her, we leave her cage door open. She’ll climb outside of the cage, go to the top and bite on all the nice brass fixtures and such for hours. She climbs down the sides to explore, and to chew on the ends of her perches, and generally has a good time. She also regularly does the "flapping game". She gets all excited and grabs onto whatever she’s sitting on and starts to flap madly and chirp. As long as we encourage her, she’ll continue to flap away for up to 15 minutes. She also has a swing in her cage, but she only likes to peck at it and bat it around… she does’t sit on it. I think that it’s too unstable for her to feel comfortable on. Anyway, Triscuit is fairly active and we think that she gets enough excersize. Next week I’m going to start building her a play-pen. John K. Lerchey Computing Services Carnegie Mellon University _/_/_/ _/_/ _/_/ _/ _/ Any similarity between my _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ opinions and those of anyone _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ with power, authority or a decent
Response:
>Our birds, especially our Severe Macaw seem (my >view point) to get a lot of exercise from holding onto an anchored object >(e.g. a perch) and flapping very hard. >The fact that they are not getting anywhere sort of reminds me of myself, >jogging on my treadmill, getting nowhere but exercising just the same.
Murphy, our Senegal, gets a kick out of perching on a finger while being swept through the air, flapping like mad. She seems to genuinely enjoy it. Berkeley, on the other hand, will either just sit there or jump off. She doesn’t seem to like it at all. SD
Response:
How do you know if your bird is getting enough exersize? My ‘tiel seems to be healthy. He doesn’t really run around a whole lot and he has his wings clipped so he never flies. He would rather just sit around his in philospher pose on my shoulder or leg or his playpen. If he wants to come out he’ll run around in his cage a WHOLE lot and he’ll jump towards me whenever I’m in reach. If I put him on the floor on the other side of the room, he’l run very fast towards me. Other than that, he doesn’t want to exercize. He has a trapeze and a couple of ladders in a gym, but he just climbs the ladders to the toperch area and sits there untill I come near him. Again, how much exercize should a ‘tiel get ? And is flying real good exercize – which means I should stop clipping his wings. Patrick, Detroit
Response:
Patrick, Flying is the best exercise a bird can get. They are designed to fly, and I think their health is compromised if they don’t get to do it. Some people say that flapping alone is all it takes, but that seems like the kind of exercise we would get kicking at the air instead of walking. The only problem with flight is that pet birds can get into a lot of trouble when they can fly. One of the compromises we often have to make for them in captivity is to keep them clipped to keep them safe in our homes. Dangers: Other pets, windows, mirrors, ceiling fans, poisonous plants, boiling pots on the stove, electrical cords, open doors and windows, standing water in the bathroom or kitchen, getting stepped on, getting lost, household chemicals, foreign body ingestion, and so on. If you do choose to let your bird’s flight feathers grow out, remember that the trade-off for the health benefits will be the risks flighted pet birds face. If you have an active household with many people coming in and out, there is a chance that you could lose your bird out the door or window. An unattended bird (even for a minute) can also get hurt or killed by other household hazards. None of my birds are clipped because I have set up a relatively safe room for them. They seem very healthy and muscular because of their ability to fly. You just have to decide which way the balance of risks and benefits falls in your home. Krista in MN
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